Sources: Obama Knew Benghazi Was Terrorism Before Deploying Rice

According to the Washington Guardian, it wasn’t just CIA Director David Petraeus who knew that the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi were terrorism linked with al Qaeda. It was the White House. And they knew it well in advance of Ambassador Susan Rice’s appearances on national television to lie to the American public about a “spontaneous” demonstration based on a YouTube video spurring the assault.

The Guardian reports:

U.S. intelligence told President Barack Obama and senior administration officials within 72 hours of the Benghazi tragedy that the attack was likely carried out by local militia and other armed extremists sympathetic to al-Qaida in the region, officials directly familiar with the information told the Washington Guardian on Friday ….

The details from the CIA and Pentagon assessments of the killing of Ambassador Chris Stephens were far more specific, more detailed and more current than the unclassified talking points that UN Ambassador Susan Rice and other officials used five days after the attack to suggest to Americans that an unruly mob angry over an anti-Islamic video was to blame, officials said.

Most of the details affirming al-Qaida links were edited or excluded from the unclassified talking points used by Rice the following weekend, officials confirmed Friday.

GET MORE STORIES LIKE THIS

IN YOUR INBOX!

Sign up for our daily email and get the stories everyone is talking about.